The fight was brutal, as it always was when it was against our rival gang. Zak and his guys were crazy, maniacal people who wanted nothing more than to win and be first, no matter how they would achieve it. Zak had always been sour that our gang were the top in the district, that we did this without too much trouble. When we dealt drugs, it was the proper stuff and we networked with people to keep good relationships going. We didn't charge too much and we kept the deal as clean and mess free as possible. When we were fighting for territory, we did it fairly and if we lost we admitted it. We had an agreement with the police that they stayed away from us as long as we stayed away from them, and sometimes we would even give them information to help them with things we'd seen or heard on the streets. We kept everything fair and reasonable, which was why everyone other than Zak's guys liked us. Zak's idea of making money was printing counterfeits or stealing from people. If he lost a territory war, he would sneakily plan an attack on that gang a few days later and annihilate them, later claiming that territory from them. With drug deals, they were terrifying. Anyone who signed a deal with them needed to be paying regularly or they were getting beaten up. Their drugs were good quality but they would pad it out to make it last longer and would charge a lot for it. They made a mess of it and had many investigations done by police, but they paid the police to keep quiet.
We had met them again for a fight on the territory between our two bases, a fight that had happened three times already but we had always had such a close fight that it was determined we needed another one. There was nothing more infuriating than fighting your ass off just to be told you had to do it again. We'd secured some referees this time from the other gangs in the district, the leaders of those four gangs witnessing our fight to work out who won.
We had both begun with seven fighters, our bosses stood either side like football managers, letting us do the work and shouting should anything go wrong. We fought with everything we had, down to the last few fighters, sweat mixing with tears, cheers mixing with cries, blood mixing with spit. At the last hurdle, with just myself and Spyder left fighting two of their guys, Zak shouted for 'Plan B' and the two remaining fighters pulled blades from their pockets. The fight was ceased immediately by the referees who declared that we won by default and made the two teams disperse before anything bad happened. We were happy to have the territory, but it didn't feel the same when you hadn't won it for yourself. We also knew that, due to the nature of our win, Zak and his gang would not take this laying down. They'd be back and they'd fight even harder.

***

"T, you're going to get in trouble again. Stay awake!" My work colleague and friend Zain spoke without moving his mouth as he elbowed me hard in the side. The pain was instant, spreading through my body like electricity as he went straight to the rib that had been bruised the night before. I flinched, my eyes widening as I focussed back on our CEO, Ryan, and his very boring presentation. His monotonous voice was enough to send even the most caffeinated staff members to sleep, especially when he was droning on about finance whilst pointing at numerous charts on the large projected image on the screen. The room was a large business meeting room, a white table in the middle which had the outside lined with uncomfortable black plastic chairs with a thin cushion on the seat. The carpet was a dark grey and pristine to the point I was convinced that there was a designated cleaner for the rooms up here as they held all the important meetings for this company. I had never attended a meeting here that had so much as a coffee ring stain on the table or a crumb on the floor...
The right side of the room was a wall of frosted glass with a large door that matched the design. Half of the fun of attending a meeting up on the tenth floor was trying to find where the door was so you always made sure you got to the room five minutes early so that you could casually search for the door without looking incompetent. The left side of this room was lined with windows which would normally look out over the town in a really picturesque, artistic way that you could only achieve from being this high up, but today it was cloudy and raining. The rain was pattering ever so soothingly onto the windows, making it even more idealistic napping weather. The miserable weather had meant that the team had decided the heating needed to be on too, so we sat in a warm room with a monotonous voice and the sound of the rain - this would have been any person's dream. For me, however, it was agony to stay awake after the night I had had.

I sighed as I ran my hand down my face, hoping that any movement would make it look like I had at least one cell in my body paying attention. I stretched, kicking my pained legs out under the table and lengthening my arms just under the table top in the hope I was styling it out well. I flicked my hair from one side to the other, I picked off the cracked nail varnish I still had on from last night, I blinked exaggeratedly. I needed to stay awake.

"Tara, do you have anything to add?" Ryan gave me a snide look, knowing he had caught me out. My attempt to be discreet really hadn't worked and now I sat with fifteen people staring at me, in particular my CEO whose eyebrow was raised and his lips pursed. I tried desperately to hide my embarrassment by smiling straight at Ryan as if I was more than confident in what I was going to reply. I crossed one leg over the other as I linked my fingers and lay them on the table top.

"No Ryan, sorry I just have a bit of cramp in my leg." I lied fluently, something I was very good at doing. I daren't even try to work out how many times my lies had saved me from getting fired... Ryan hesitated for a second, looked at the presentation and then at the clock at the back of the room that read 15:23. He sighed, running his tongue over his bottom lip as he fell deep into thought. The room was eerily silent at this point, no one dared to cough, sneeze or move.

"Right, of course." Ryan seemed to have worked out what he needed to as his tongue hid away again. "I'm sorry everyone, let's take a break until half past. Grab a drink or a snack and stretch your legs." Everyone threw me a thankful gaze as they stood up swiftly and filed out of the room in an orderly line. Zain was quick to walk both of us out of the room, his arm around my waist as he speed walked us to the left and towards the pristine kitchen which had multiple vending machines, appliances and cupboards. Zain gave me a Colgate smile, only enhanced by the fact his mouth was lined with a perfectly pruned black beard. He punched in his favourite coffee, number 2, and the machine sprang to life as it poured him an espresso with sugar. As soon as his was ready and removed from the machine, he pushed number 8 and got my latte for me. While the machine whirred again, he spun back to face me with the smile still playing on his lips.

"What?" I pried, elongating the word to show my curiosity. He let out a breathy laugh as he sipped his espresso and gave me a pat on the shoulder with the other hand.

"You're really going to play ignorant?" He teased as I pulled my finished coffee from the machine, the heat warming my fingertips instantly. "You just practically fell asleep in Ryan's meeting, lied to his face and then got away with it. He must fancy you..." I rolled my eyes. Here we go again! Any time any person, man or woman, did something even remotely nice or helpful, Zain was practically planning our wedding. It didn't mean anything to him that someone may have just been polite, or that they were being helpful, to him it meant they adored me. In my mind I counted down, ready for the spiel that he said every time he began this with any person that was nice to me. 3...2...1...
"I mean let's be honest, you've been single literally FOREVER, T. I've known you for a year and I've never known you to have a partner, mention a partner or even talk about old ones. Have you ever dated? Are you a virgin?" He scoffed to himself as if that was a world ending admission. "I think it's time for you to get back on the market, or start being on the market - whatever you want to say. Ryan seems nice enough and he believed your rubbish about having cramp..." Zain rattled off in one breath, just making it to the end before he gasped for a breath (even if he did try to style it out). I huffed and rolled my eyes, shaking my head as I sipped my coffee.

"Maybe Zain - just maybe - he believed my rubbish about having cramp because we've been sat in that room for three hours already without a proper break." I said, my tone so condescending it even made me cringe. I wanted to apologise, to say it was a little over exaggerated, but I was interrupted by Ryan calling us all back into the room. We quietly filed back into the room and sat back on the barely cushioned chairs, ready for the next hour and a half of the worst meeting I had ever endured. But this was also good for me because all this rage, all this fury and frustration, it was all going to help me tonight...

***

"Amazon! You're late!" My boss barked at me as I ran through the metal door of the warehouse we called our home. I threw him an apologetic look as I yanked my balaclava over my bobbed hair and tucked in any strands that would give away that I was a woman. I tossed my bag into a cupboard and stood with the few others that had been given the mammoth task of extracting information out of the sorry person that we were about to meet. This evening, I was going to be working with Wolf and Eagle alongside our no-nonsense boss Hank.

"I told you I had a meeting today." I huffed as I tied up my steel toe capped boots that matched my all-black outfit. "I had to get changed in the train toilets." The other two men sniggered, thoroughly enjoying my misery. "Yeah, laugh it up." I rolled my eyes at Wolf and Eagle as they continued to smirk.  We all got along really well, like a dysfunctional family that would do anything to protect each other. We had saved each other from so many life-changing scenarios that we trusted no other person than those in this gang. There were ten of us altogether, ranging in age and class, who would never have spoken to each other in the outside world, yet here we were the best of friends, like brothers and sisters. I was the only woman, but that didn't bother me; while some women enjoyed getting their nails done or raising a family, I liked kicking ass. That's how I ended up here in the first place...
One night I had gone out for drinks with my work colleagues and I cut through an alley to get back to my house. As stupid as I knew it was to do, I had a newfound confidence that I'd got after drinking quite a number of cocktails. Just as the end of the alley was in sight, I was pounced on by a couple of men in balaclavas. They tried to steal my bag but I wasn't the type of woman they were hoping for me to be - I kicked their asses and left them on the floor. As I turned to leave, Hank was there staring at me as if I was an alien with three heads. I readied myself for another fight, thinking he was another of this gang, but he gave me a round of applause and told me he wanted to talk to me when I'd sobered up. He scribbled an address on a screwed up piece of paper he found in the alley and put it in my bag before walking away without another word. I left it for a day or two, my mind really deliberating if this was a good idea. I had no idea who this man was or what he wanted from me and he had given me the address of a derelict building not too far from my workplace that seemed to be really shady. There was no phone number and no traceable information on this guy. The whole thing was suspicious... Yet part of me loved the thrill. I hadn't fought for a long time but as soon as I'd thrown that first punch to those guys in the alley, the adrenaline and the excitement were back. Every moment of the day and night I had relived the fight and just how well I'd managed to handle it. This was what gave me my final answer. I was going to see him.
After work that day, I headed to the derelict building and knocked at the old wooden door. Most of the cream paint had peeled away from the design, leaving it looking like it was a mouldy piece of bread. It opened with a creak and a hand yanked me into the room before I even had a chance to compute. I threw a punch straight at the person who had grabbed me, which connected heavily with his jaw and he let me go, stumbling backwards as his hand came up to his face. I got into my fighting stance, guard up and fists ready, only to see that I was surrounded by nine guys. My stomach dropped as I suddenly panicked. Was I about to die? Were these guys going to attack and abuse me?

"Damn, that was a good punch." The guy I'd hit let out a laugh as he moved his lower jaw side to side. He was an older man, probably in his fifties, who was 6ft 4 and burly. Had I seen what he looked like before I'd thrown my punch, I may have reconsidered due to the size of him but I'd done what I'd done now, there wasn't anything I could do to take it back. I offered him a sorry smile and a shrug.

"Told you she was good." Hank said, stepping forward. The rest of the gang relaxed, offering me smiles and nods of their head. Some were tall, others short, some young and some old, some muscular and others were skinny. With every single one of them though, they emanated a scary aura as if they should not be messed with. Hank put a hand on my shoulder and offered me a grin. "I witnessed this lady take down two from Zak's gang last night whilst drunk. She annihilated them with a confidence I've not seen in a while so I offered her a chance to meet us." He looked across all the men that were standing around before turning back to face me, all his focus on me. "We are the top gang of the district, we fight those like the guys who attacked you, we try to keep the place safe for people. I wanted to give you the chance to join us. We've been looking for a tenth member."
It didn't take much more than that sentence for me to agree and I was instantly a part of their gang. They gave me the easy jobs for a while but came to realise the talent I held, we fought some teams and I played a huge part in the win, I went up in all their estimations and now, six months later, I'm Hank's second in command...

My phone buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it out to see a coded message from Spyder. The person we were grilling for information had arrived. I nodded at Hank, Wolf and Eagle and we made our way to another metal door. Our warehouse sat in an isolated part of town and from the outside looked like any other storage warehouse for local companies. Inside, it was split into a few different rooms; an interrogation room, which was nicely soundproofed and filled with any equipment we may have wanted to help us get the information we needed. It wasn't a room we spent much of our leisure time in, so it was very dusty and dirty. The room off of the interrogation room was a little locker room, giving us space to get ready for questioning people, but also to get changed out of our clothes should they get blood stained. Past this room, we had our living quarters which comprised of a small kitchenette, under the counter fridge and a small microwave alongside a few sofas and a table with four chairs. This was the place kept most clean, though when you've been hanging around with ten men you get used to their version of clean instead of the pristine show-home type of clean.

"Remember , this is one of Zak's guys. If we can get information out of him we will always be ahead of him. I know they're planning an attack on us, they're desperate to take the crown of first in the district. We CANNOT let that happen. Do whatever you need to do to this guy. I need answers." Hank ordered, his face screwed up in anger. This one interrogation was huge. We needed to do everything right. He straightened his shirt sleeves and adjusted his cufflinks, smoothing down his side parted hair as he took a deep breath in and out before he shoved the door open dramatically, Hank walking in first with the three of us walking in behind him. All three of us wore identical clothing and masks so no one could tell who we were, short of a rough body shape. The man tied to the chair in the middle of this room was only young, maybe twenty three, and he sat terrified as we walked towards him in perfect unison like a marching army. One of the rules of the whole operation was that I never spoke unless the matter was of the highest urgency - in this kind of business, people knowing you're a woman is detrimental in every sense. Hank told me the story of the only other woman he ever had on the team, Freya. In any fights, it was easy to tell her apart from the men as she was so small and all the fighters would attack her knowing she was easiest to beat. The men cared dearly for her so if she was ever in trouble, the men were open for attacks because they were distracted. The other gangs kidnapped her and questioned her, knowing she was easier to break. She sadly died at the hands of one gang who had tortured her for information. To this day, Hank still wasn't sure which team had done it as she was left discarded outside our warehouse once the gang were done with her.

"Welcome to our home, Sidney." Hank smiled the kind of smile that sent chills through anyone on the receiving end of it. He closed the gap between him and the cowering kid, bending down to be face to face with him. "I heard you had some information for me?" Despite his quivering posture, Sidney had the confidence to spit in Hank's face and growl his response.

"I ain't telling you shit." He turned his nose up Hank, who just let out a simple one syllable laugh. He gestured for me to walk forwards and stand beside him which I did without question. He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed the spit from his face.

"Off you go." He said and, as if a switch had been flipped inside me, I became Amazon. I kicked my steel toe capped boot straight at Sidney's chest and watched as the chair tipped back, landing with a crash onto the floor. The dust on the floor jumped up and swirled around Sidney like smoke dancing from an extinguished candle wick. It gave any person in our possession a fear of abandonment and disregard. We didn't care for these people or how they were dealt with. Eagle and Wolf moved in and yanked the chair back up onto its legs as Sidney let out a little breath of pain. He kept his eyes down as Hank spoke to him again. "I'm a nice guy, Sid, better than Zak in every sense and I'm in a giving mood today. I'll give you one more chance to tell me what Zak is planning or I'm leaving you in the very capable hands of my three worst, craziest guys." Hank raised his eyebrows at us, proud at himself for the little speech. Sidney's eyes remained on our floor, scanning it for anything exciting.

"Fuck you all." Sidney said, though I could hear the tremor in his voice. He was scared, yet he was trying to act confident. Something about this didn't sit right with me. I walked over to Hank and stood with my back to Sidney, leaning in to whisper to Hank.

"Something's not right about this. He's scared, but it's like he's dragging this out for some reason. He won't even look at us in the eyes."

"Noted. Give him another good kick at see how he acts." Hank whispered back and without hesitation I nodded back. I turned and walked straight back over to Sidney and put all my power into a roundhouse kick that sent him crashing onto his side. As he landed something clattered and skidded across the floor, though I seemed to be the only person who had witnessed it. I rushed over to him and quickly looked around, trying to find whatever made that sound. To my horror, I saw a tracking device blinking its red light right at me only a few feet away from Sidney. I picked it up and held it in between my finger and thumb.

"Boss!" I shouted, making everyone including Sidney look up at me in a second. I held the tracking device out and Hank instantly ran a hand over his face in frustration. For the first time, Sidney let out a confident laugh and shook his head.

"That's right, assholes. Zak and ten of his men are on their way here right now. It was all part of the plan... and now I know that your second in command is a woman." He let out a delighted howl. "You're in trouble now, Hank. Seems like you didn't learn your lesson after what happened to Freya." It was Sidney's turn to let out one of those spine-chilling smiles. My gaze moved over to Hank, who was looking straight back at me as he tried to work out what we needed to do next. For a moment, the room was eerily silent until a wet and bloody yell caught our attention. Looking back over to where Sidney was laying on the floor, a pool of blood was now growing underneath him. Wolf stood over him, shoulders rising and falling quickly.

"Wolf, what did you-" I went to ask but Wolf shot me a glare that silenced me where I stood.

"We don't have time for this. Send out a group message, we need everyone here right now." I yanked my phone from my pocket and sent an 'X' in the group chat alerting everyone that we were in trouble. The moment my phone was put back in my pocket, the door was forced open and Zak came marching in with a team of fighters. The mood changed instantly into one of panic and fear from both sides; Zak saw the bloodied body of one of his gang, we saw the amount of fighters we would be up against, I was still in a state of panic from the fact that Sidney had known I was a woman. He was dead now, presumably done by Wolf to save me, but those few moments where we was confident he was going to tell Zak had still rattled me.

"Which one of you killed Sidney?" Zak barked at us all, the gaze of the rival team shifting between the four of us waiting for one of us to admit to it.

"Had he cooperated, he wouldn't be dead." Hank was quick to have the attention on him, he stared back at the gang with a confidence I could only imagine having. "Same with any gang member who decides staying quiet is better." Hank shrugged as if to say it wasn't anything personal, it was just business.

"Is that right?" Zak questioned, eyebrows raised at Hank. He let out a breathy laugh and shook his head. "Alright, fair enough. In that case, guys..." He turned to his team of ten. "Grab one of these three and bring them back with us." My stomach dropped as I quickly glanced over to Wolf and Eagle. We had to protect each other. Whoever they took had a very high chance of ending up like Sidney...

As if a silent whistle had been blown, Zak's team ran at us, three on one. The three that were with me circled around me, making sure to cover all angles. I kept looking between the three, waiting for the first one to strike. For a moment the room was silent as everyone worked out what to do. We were all in the same boat, we were fighters for a different gang but we were the pawns in this game, risking our lives for our boss. The first guy ran at me, fists flying as he tried desperately to punch me. I ducked the first, blocked the second and retaliated with a punch hard enough that my arm was vibrating from the impact. The first guy stumbled backwards but sadly for me, there was no rest bite as the others came at me. The second guy threw his foot at the back of my knee and caused me to crash down to the floor, the third guy swinging his foot at my face. I pulled my arms up to my face and blocked the kick but was knocked forwards by the second guy again. I kicked my leg behind me and kicked the second guy in the shin, causing him to fall to his knees. I then flung my leg up and kicked him in the face. Shards of tooth flew out in front of him and across our dirty floor, to be lost amongst the dust as he crashed down hard like a sack of potatoes. The first guy was back in the fight within a second and booted me in the cheek knocking me onto my side and, just like Sidney, I sent all the dust floating around me like an eerie aura. I swept the first guy off his feet and punched him as soon as he landed, keeping him grounded for a second. The third guy was the only remaining one, which would have been easy for me had Hank not had to call me to help Eagle. As soon as I looked over, I could see Eagle wouldn't have been able to get out of that by himself. One guy was holding Eagle's arms behind his back, one was kicking him, the other punching him. He had no chance. I took off from my one remaining guy and dove straight into the next fight. I charged the guy holding Eagle's arms and knocked him to the floor, punching him over and over until I could see he was drifting out of consciousness, then I hopped up and worked with Eagle to take down the other two. It was all going so well until another two got involved in our fight and left Wolf alone with only two guys. It took only one well placed punch for Eagle to be winded and he fell to his knees grabbing at his chest as he tried to steady his breathing, in this moment I was back to having three on one but I was distracted with trying to help Eagle. Whilst I was looking at him, one of them grabbed me from behind, pinning my arms to my sides. As much as I flailed and kicked, he was strong enough to hold me and to lift me up slightly from the floor. I wanted to scream out for some help but I knew that would only make it worse, so as two more crowded around me I had already prepared myself for the worst.

"Take that one back with us." Zak suddenly called out, the guy in front of me stopping mid punch. I heard Wolf cry out, as did Hank, as they tried to stop them but with four guys on me, and the others limping out with us, there was no way to stop this from happening. I was about to be tortured for information.

***

I was tied to a chair in a silent room, my wrists strapped to the arm rests and my ankles strapped to the front two legs of the chair. I had absolutely no way of getting out of this in any way other than someone rescuing me. They'd left me in the room once I'd been bound, which I assume was to add more fear into me. Let me tell you first hand, I was shitting myself. There's only so much acting a person can do to try and make it look like they're not scared. This time, I was terrified. Probably as much so as Sidney.
The door opened and a single pair of footsteps made their way towards me. They grabbed my jaw with their gloved hand and forced me to look up at them, into their eyes as they spoke.

"Luckily for you, they've sent me in alone." He began, his voice monotonous yet powerful. "Give me the information I need and you will be out of here pretty quickly and mostly unharmed..." His face got closer to mine. "Understand?" I nodded as much as I could with him restricting the lower half of my head with his strong grip. I could feel my heart hammering so forcefully I was convinced it was soon going to leap from my chest. I felt hot, nauseous and scared. How the hell did I get myself out of this? I'd have to speak and as soon as I did he'd have known I was a woman. The man let go of my jaw and walked to the back of the room, grabbing a trolley that was covered in a pristine white cloth, as if it had just been washed and placed there to make the room look pretty. This room was a lot cleaner and more organised that our one, that was for sure. He wheeled the trolley over to me and parked it just to the side of us, pulling off the cover to reveal the array of tool and devices he could use to get information from me. The sight of that didn't bother me too much as I was used to seeing it, but when my brain reminded me that it was about to be used on me, the fear crept in.
"Let's start off easy." He began, grabbing a small scalpel from the trolley. "You tell me your name." Did I tell him with the hope that he would not want to hurt me because I was a woman? Would him finding that out make the attack worse? My brain whirred with possible endings to the many scenarios that my head could invent which unfortunately meant I took too long to answer his question. The man slowly dragged the scalpel along my arm, from shoulder to wrist, as if he was marking it to cut it in half. I bit my lips together and merely let out a harsh breath as he stopped, throwing the scalpel back on the table. "We can't even do the simple stuff, huh?" He grabbed my jaw again. "What is your name? And this time, let's do this without the balaclava on." He grabbed the top of the balaclava in his other hand and whipped it off before I had a chance to think. As my hair settled back down, framing my face, I looked back at the guy who now seemed stunned into silence. He stared back at me, frozen on the spot with eyes wide and his hand still on my jaw. "Tara?" He asked carefully. It was my turn for my eyes to widen and my jaw to drop.

"H-how do you-?" I whispered but the door opened again and he put a hand up to his mouth to silence me.

"How's it going Scythe?" Zak's voice could be heard from across the room. "Need me to send anyone else in?" My breathing became more erratic, scared that whoever this person was knew me and could make my life hell - starting off with informing Zak that I was a woman and letting his gang at me.

"All good Zak. Don't need anyone, this is pretty easy. Just give me time, I will let you know when I'm done." This mysterious man called out to Zak and for a moment, it both felt like we were on the same page praying for Zak to go away without coming any further into the room.

"You got it Scythe. Shout if you need anything." With that the door closed and we both collectively breathed a sigh of relief. This guy took a few steps away from me and ran his hands over his balaclava'd face as if he was now panicking on what he should do next.

"How do you know me?" I pressed, hoping that being more human would stop him from hurting me. It seemed he was having a breakdown now he knew who I was, as if his interests were now conflicted.

"Of every person in the entire world who we could have picked... it was you?" His voice was strained as he paced around, suddenly acting erratically.

"Who are you?" I asked more directly as I decided to risk it and speak my mind. "You seem like you don't want to hurt me, and if I knew who you were I wouldn't want to hurt you either..." He stopped in front of me suddenly, making me jump.

"Just shut up, I'm trying to think. Fucking hell, everything is screwed up now." He ran his hands over the top of his balaclava as he began pacing again. He was muttering to himself quietly, which seemed to make me more nervous. It was as if he was about to malfunction. I watched in silence as he walked and talked, deliberating between different scenarios and outcomes before he suddenly stopped again and walked over to me. "We need to get you out of here."

"And how do you propose we do that exactly?" I whispered, looking around the room which had only one door to enter and exit.

"How good are you at playing dead?" He asked in a whisper. He picked the scalpel back up and quickly sliced through the ties that bound me to the chair. Dumbfounded by his question and his sudden action to release me, I was stunned to silence. He tapped my cheek a few times with his hand. "I said how good are you at playing dead?" I screwed my face up in confusion.

"I don't know, I've never had to-" I was interrupted with a quick 'I'm sorry' before the scalpel was stabbed into my stomach. I let out a guttural noise as I brought my hands to my wound, blood seeping into my top and staining my fingertips. "You stabbed me?!" I was too shocked to say much, yet I wanted him to feel the betrayal.

"Just trust me on this. It's an easy wound to fix. Play dead now." The man scooped me up into his arms and carried me to the door, booting it open. I shut my eyes and went limp, one bloodstained arm dangling out of his grip. He brushed my hair over my face to cover up what I looked like before he continued into the room. The sound of rushed footsteps could be heard.

"You did it? You got the information we n-" Zak was stunned to silence in the same way I was. He came to a halt right beside us and I tried my best to make my breathing shallow. "What the fuck happened?" He sounded angry. I did everything I could to stay as still as possible as this guy kept moving past Zak.

"It was an accident. I'll explain it when I get back just let me dump the body before they come looking for her." Scythe lied as he continued to carry me through their warehouse. Zak matched his steps and walked along with us.

"She's a woman?!" He let out a pained sigh. "Fucking hell. Again?" Scythe stopped suddenly and it took everything in me not to react to the sudden movement.

"Look, unless you're going to help me get the fuck out of my face." Zak's footsteps seemed to retreat and I heard Scythe mutter a thank you as he started up walking again. Another door was booted open, though this one hit me with cool, fresh air and the sound of tree leaves rusting in the wind. He walked across some gravel, from what I could hear, and stopped as he unlocked a car. He opened the door and threw me across the backseats, slamming it shut as he jumped into the drivers seat and took off. I stayed dead for a while, waiting for him to tell me I was safe. The rumble of the cars engine was all I could hear in this otherwise silent time. After a while, Scythe finally let out a sigh and spoke.

"You'll be fine now." He said as I slowly opened my eyes and took in the old fashioned car interior.

"Thank you." I said instantly, knowing he had put himself through a lot to get me out of there. "Minus stabbing me." He let out a breathy laugh.

"It had to look believable. I'm sorry. Maybe I'll say it was punishment for all you've put me through." I sat bolt upright very quickly, forgetting the wound that had so far been masked with adrenaline. I roared out as I fell back into the seats, squirming as the pain coursed through my body. "Hey come on I was only joking! Are you okay?" I was desperate to know who he was, and I had a feeling that some acting would get me the answer I needed. I went limp again, closing my eyes and staying silent as he continued to drive. "Tara?" I heard him turn around in the seat, the leather squeaking as he moved. "Tara? You okay?" I played dead, silence enveloping the inside of the car. "Ah shit." He was quick to pull the car over and park up, before climbing in between the driver and passenger seat to get closer to me. As he bent over me, his fingers pressing on my neck to feel for my pulse, I opened my eyes quickly and grabbed his balaclava, yanking it off his head to reveal someone I never would have expected it to be. The same dumbfounded expression crept over me and I found myself silent gawping at him. It took me a moment, my eyes wide and staring at his features, to realise I wasn't dreaming. This guy who was in Zak's gang, who I'd probably fought several times in the space of me being in this gang, the one who could have killed me today... it was my CEO.

"Ryan?!" I breathed out, my eyebrows raised in surprise. "You-you're..."

"Yeah." He let out an awkward breathy laugh. "I thought the same about you." It was in that moment that I'd realised he hadn't moved a muscle, his fingers still on my neck feeling for my pulse as he leant over me. Had he felt the change in my pulse since I'd seen who he was? His eyes left mine for a moment and fell on his hand, within an instant he pulled himself away from me and silently climbed back into the drivers seat. "As fun as this has been, we need to get you home. Get that wound sorted tonight, don't let it get any worse." He started up the engine and pulled away again, continuing the drive to my warehouse. "Oh, and Tara?" He looked at me through the rearview mirror.

"Yeah?" I asked carefully.

"I'll see you in work next week."